Reading 10 minutes without interruption: rediscovering deep reading
Our days are chopped into crumbs: notifications, messages, interruptions. Reading ten minutes in one go has become almost a feat. This quest asks you to give God's Word ten whole minutes, without a break.
What it looks like in your day
Ten minutes is not long. But for it to work, you have to protect that time. Here is how:
- Choose your time and place. A quiet room, a park bench, your parked car. When you are there, you are there.
- Turn off whatever can ring. Put your phone in airplane mode, or leave it in another room. Set a discreet timer if you want to keep track of time.
- Choose a book or a chapter before you begin. No time wasted searching.
- Read, simply. You don't have to take notes, you can even remember nothing. Just read, and if you drift, come back.
- At the end, one sentence of prayer. "Thank you, Lord, for this time."
The first few times, you may be tempted to look at the time, check a message, get up to do something else. Resist gently. The more you practice, the longer your attention stretches. After a few days, ten minutes pass quickly.
If you are in a hurry, find ten specific minutes: before the children get up, during the lunch break. If you are a beginner, choose a narrative text, easier to follow than a teaching text. If you are shy in your reading, know that reading in a low voice helps you stay focused.
What the Bible says
The episode of Martha and Mary is a scene from daily life. While Martha bustles about, Mary has sat down:
“And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.”
Mary sits "at Jesus' feet" and listens to his word. She does nothing else. Jesus will say afterward that Mary has chosen the good part (Luke 10:42). Martha is not condemned for serving, but she is invited not to let herself be absorbed in her tasks to the point of losing what is essential.
The last book of the Bible begins with a blessing for the one who reads:
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
Read, hear, keep: three verbs. Attentive reading is not a performance: it is a way of receiving. And the psalm that loves the Word puts it in meditation "all the day" (Psalms 119:97), a sign that attention is an act of love.
Pitfalls to avoid
Aiming for quantity. Ten minutes well read are worth more than a chapter rushed through. If you read only five verses, but you thought about them, that is a success.
Letting guilt fool you. Interruptions will come (a child, a phone call). Don't let that discourage you. Resume as soon as possible.
Neglecting the environment. Reading in a noisy room, with the TV on in the background, is almost lost in advance. Arrange your place.
Getting bored and giving up. Boredom is normal at first: your mind is used to stimulation. Choose a lively passage, or read aloud.
Turning this reading into a feat. It is not proof of spirituality, it is a little training in attention, which will benefit your whole life.
Today, find ten minutes. Close the screens, open the Bible, and read without getting up.